


Breaking Silence

by SmileAndASong



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616, Silk (Comics), Spider-Gwen (Comics)
Genre: Comfort, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/F, Fluff, Sleeping Together, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-13
Updated: 2016-05-13
Packaged: 2018-06-08 06:01:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6841786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmileAndASong/pseuds/SmileAndASong
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ten years in a bunker caused Cindy Moon to hate silence. She finds comfort in the obnoxiously loud tendencies of her fellow Spider-Woman.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Breaking Silence

**Author's Note:**

> So after reading the current Spider-Women crossover, I became obsessed with the idea of writing Cindy/Gwen slash. And nobody wrote any fic for them yet which means I had to write my own! This is also my first time writing fic in literally like two years, and my first time writing femslash in even longer!  
> I just love the dynamic the two of them have and the stark differences between how they became and how they act as Spider-Woman. This is roughly set around Spider-Woman #6 in the event, when Cindy and Gwen stay at Gwen's place while Jessica goes off to find Jesse Drew. I just added it so it could be overnight also.

Gwen Stacy was perpetually loud.

Everything about Gwen Stacy was bold and did not go unnoticed, Cindy Moon was quickly realizing. She had only just met the girl, as well as Jessica Drew, but her and Gwen Stacy were very different and had very different upbringings - then again, most people didn’t have an upbringing that was really comparable to Cindy’s. A bunker was really no place to transition into your years as an adolescent into an adult. It was not something that she would wish on her worst enemy - well, maybe certain enemies. Years of solitude made Cindy somewhat sensitive to sound. She wasn’t necessarily traumatized by it, because she was way too strong and cool for it. But she just tended to hear everything more, even without the heightened “silk sense”, don’t tell Peter he probably copyrighted it, ability to really hear it. She just tended to notice the infliction that people made in their voices more, or responded more sensitively to large noises or drastic changes in noises. She knew that came from her time in the bunker, where every noise felt so heavily amplified after years of silence. 

She recalled how loud she had been at first, desperately trying to yell and fight her way out. Then suddenly, things just became more and more silent. While she had her tapes and her movies, that was a different way of hearing noise - it was a recording of noise and could be controlled by adjusting the volume as necessary. But it was entirely different hearing a loud noise that was a complete surprise that you weren’t expecting - that was something that only came from living a life beyond seclusion. And even then, most of the noises that Cindy heard were usually not her own, they were recordings of the voices of other people. It was somewhat hard to keep track of days if she was not actively making an effort to do so, but she was certain that she would frequently go days if not weeks without making a single noise. It was an experience that was likely unique entirely to her - an experience of utter silence.

Gwen Stacy meanwhile, surrounded with noise. Her voice was loud and confident. Cindy noted how she frequently tried to talk over both her and Jessica on their little escapade. Gwen carried herself with a confidence. Even the way she walked just seemed louder. Her strides were long and powerful, with her foot being placed firmly on the ground. When Cindy walked beside her, she could hear her footsteps and how loudly they amplified - Gwen had a voice and presence that demanded to be heard. And Cindy was quickly making not of this. Even when fighting, Gwen always seemed to find time to make a proud (And again, loud) one-liner to her enemy or to her teammates. She was not the only hero to do this, of course, but it was something that Cindy was quickly picking up on about Gwen.

Though picking up on Gwen’s behaviors was a lot better than picking up /after/ her, which was what Cindy found herself doing at the current moment. While Jessica was off finding the Earth-65 version of herself, Cindy and Gwen retreated back to Gwen’s home in Queens. Apparently her father lived there with her, but he was nowhere around, but that seemed to be the norm around here. That was clearly a good thing, because Cindy couldn’t imagine anyone else having to live in this mess. One of the few things that Cindy liked about her bunker was the control that she had in the space. Though unable to leave, she could do what she want and keep it as she liked. She tended to like to keep as tidy as she could - the clutter she found stressful. Clutter in general was somewhat foreign to her, though it seemed that there was a lot about Gwen that was foreign to her.

“How old is this pizza box?” Cindy asked Gwen as she lifted the box that was sitting on the couch of the living room, looking disgusted while doing so.

“What?” Gwen said from the kitchen, where she sat doing some of her homework for one of her classes at college. Studying seemed to be a secondary concern of hers though, since she was blasting loud rock music from her laptop and following along with the beat of the drum with her pen. Cindy had quickly made note of this noise, particularly the drumming of the pen. That sound was oddly satisfying to her, and she didn’t really know why. “I think I had pizza on...Tuesday? I don’t know, it’s hard to remember when you’re crossing dimensions and whatnot.”

“Ew.” Cindy said as she shamelessly chucked it out the open window.

“Don’t do that! The neighbors are so damn nosy, I don’t need them coming to do a police investigation or something when I’m hiding out two people from another universe as well as a secret identity.” Gwen complained stubbornly.

“You mean...like your father?” Cindy asked as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Well…” Gwen frowned as Cindy bested her. “It’s not good to litter either way!” Gwen exclaimed, raising her voice as she got frustrated, which Cindy immediately took note of the increase in sound. There she was again, the presence and voice that demanded to be heard. And she was. All of the noise that Cindy was currently hearing were noises that Gwen was making - Gwen was drumming her pen, Gwen was playing the pop punk music, Gwen was tapping her feet under the table in tune with her drumming her pen, Gwen was raising her voice and arguing over something irrelevant. And Cindy...was silent. She didn’t make an effort to respond to any of Gwen’s words, because the argument was stupid again. And she was quickly finding herself encompassed by all of the sounds in the tight living space. It was not a bad thing or a sensory overload or anything like that though - Cindy would never let herself have such a pathetic and prissy weakness. She actually liked it, she liked it a lot. There was a sort of comfort in the constant noises and stimulation, as well as a fascination for the girl who spent years in silence for just how loud one person could be.

“Cindy? What gives, you’re staring?” Gwen’s voice and a new sound dragged Cindy away from her brief trance. Cindy blinked, not really remembering how much time had passed in between Gwen’s last comment and the new question. Had she been staring? Shit, that was probably a little weird.

“Sorry, I...guess I’m more tired than I thought. I mean, I did travel a long way to get here all the way across the universes.” Cindy commented with a smirk. Gwen chuckled, her somewhat loud laughter echoing through the small space. Then it left, and then there was a brief period where only the music was playing - still Gwen’s noise though. She disturbed this sole noise though with a loud yawn. 

“It is getting pretty late.” Gwen commented as she reached over to pause the loud music, a brief few seconds of utter silence passing between them as Gwen’s tapping of her pen and feet had also stopped. Cindy suddenly felt strangely tense, and she didn’t know why. “Wanna go to sleep? I’m sure Jess is fine and the crabby mother will probably freak out if we go looking for her or something.”

“Sleep actually sounds like a great idea.” Cindy agreed. Jessica was supposed to be back by now, but neither one of them had sensed any immediate danger, so all must be alright. “Where am I sleeping again?”

“The couch.” Gwen said, as she gestured to the couch that Cindy had just removed a pizza box from that had been sitting there for an undetermined amount of time.

“No.” Cindy said immediately.

“I’m going to put a blanket over-” Gwen tried.

“/No/. Nope, sorry goodbye.” Cindy told the other sternly, noting how her own voice had raised to a significantly higher level as she argued with Gwen that time. For the first time since she met the blonde Spider-Woman, her own voice had been the louder one. Cindy found this odd. Not to say that she hadn’t given Gwen a taste of some serious attitude since they met, but just because Gwen was so /loud/ and Cindy by nature and years of experience, just tended to be quieter. She didn’t not speak loudly or her mind - she just tended to default back to a position of more silence because that was what she became accustomed to. Gwen, by nature and experience was loud. Cindy, by nature and experience was quiet. Both of them however had no problem arguing or taking a stand. Like Cindy refusing to sleep on the smelly pizza couch - not happening.

“It’s not /that/ old...at least I don’t think so.” Gwen explained as she sighed. “Alright, fine. We can share my bed I guess. Don’t tell any of the boys in your universe about this though, especially not that Peter Parker over there. I don’t need him getting off to the idea of his dead girlfriend and ex-girlfriend sharing a bed.”

“Ew. Way to give someone a nice thought before they go to sleep.” Cindy explained, but Gwen just smirked at Cindy, seemingly proud of what she said. There was that smugness once again. Somehow, Gwen wore it well - it complimented that loud and bold presence of hers. Cindy wondered why she didn’t find this more obnoxious. Sure, she herself could be obnoxious when she wanted to be, but Gwen brought it to an entirely different level - a loud one. Shouldn’t this bother her more? Gwen was /annoying/ and sloppy.  
“Come on, let’s go.” Gwen said as she led Cindy to her own bedroom, whistling along the way. This noise didn’t even surprise Cindy anymore, there was a sense of familiarity and expectation that Gwen Stacy was just going to be loud. Cindy hadn’t seen Gwen’s room yet, but the idea of expecting certain things had become pretty routine based on what she was learning about Gwen and her character. So when Gwen opened her door to a messy room with a floory that was literally impossible to see, Cindy was not even surprised.

“Nice room.” She said sarcastically as she hopped her way over the unidentified clean versus dirty clothes. “It’s tempting to just sleep on the ceiling, y’know. There’s less of a chance of some stink monster coming tog et me through the mess.” Cindy joked.

“Be my guest, I know you can get up there.” She said as she rummaged through her clothes and went through several different shirts before finding one that she believed was not dirty. She ripped off the current t-shirt she was wearing and threw it on. Cindy blushed and averted her gaze away.

“Alright, well...thanks for the warning.” Cindy mumbled, her voice falling a bit quieter at that because even the powerful and badass Silk could get a little flustered by a pretty girl taking her shirt off unexpectedly.

“Hey, that was a gift free of charge, you should be thanking me.” Gwen said as she smirked. “Did you want another shirt to wear?”

Cindy looked down at the “Mary Janes” home made t-shirt that Gwen had given her earlier when they first came back here. After seeing the room, she had her questioning as the cleanliness of it, but she was still able to somewhat smell the scent of laundry detergent on it versus sweat or food, so she felt more comfortable sticking with that one. “I’m...good, thanks.”

Gwen nodded, before she looked to her bed which was littered with several different textbooks and other things for school. “Crap, hang on.” Cindy watched as Gwen proceeded to shove off every single book right onto the floor, amplifying the quiet nature of the room with more noise because that was the Gwen Stacy way, she was quickly learning.

“Do you want to move those to the book-” Cindy glanced over to the bookshelf which was currently holding assorted items from old stuffed animals, more clothes, and other assorted crap - not a single book was on it. “Right. Why put books on the bookshelf when there is all this space on the floor?”

“See, now you’re getting it.” Gwen smirked as she kicked some of the books into the wall making more loud noises, before she pulled back the comforter. “You’ll be pleased to know I actually washed my comforter the other day. Got some blood on it when I came home from duty.”

“Again with the reassuring nighttime thoughts, Gwen.” Cindy said though she also let out a light laugh. Laughter was honestly one of the most pleasing noises for her to hear because the sound had become so foreign to her in the bunker. What the hell was there to laugh about in the bunker? She took her place on the unoccupied space of the double bed. It was a little lumpy, but it would get the job done. She didn’t foresee sleeping for long, just enough to get some energy back up.

“What can I say, never a dull moment with me.” Gwen said before joining Cindy in the bed. She reached over to turn off the light on her nightstand. Cindy had since closed her eyes so she could not see this. But she did hear it since Gwen knocked over several unknown items onto the floor in the process. “Sleep tight, don’t let the stink monster bite.” Gwen told her before settling into the bed.

“If it does, I blame you entirely and will consider that a warranted reason to fight you.” Gwen laughed at Cindy’s response, but didn’t say anything back. The only noise that Cindy could hear was the breathing of Gwen. She opened her eyes and glanced over. They were close, but not touching. The idea of being close to someone didn’t bother her. She had her fair share of kisses and such since out of her bunker. But the silence...there it was again. Though her nature gravitated to that persisting silence, it suddenly felt so foreign after being around someone like Gwen all day who was just constantly making noise. Cindy felt stiff. She suddenly found herself thinking back to the bunker, and the nights of silence that she had grown so used to. She grew used to the silence, because she didn’t have a choice. Sometimes she would leave the tapes she was given on, at nights when the silence got too much even for her to handle. She shifted and opened her eyes. She noticed a small TV on the other side of the room near the book shelf with no books.

“Gwen?” Cindy asked.

“Mmm?” Gwen grunted but didn’t move.

“Do you mind if I turn on the TV?” Cindy asked as she sat up.

“Good luck finding the remote, but sure.” With permission, Cindy got up and crossed the room to go and turn on the television manually. She coincidentally found the remote on the floor by the television and brought it back to the bed with her. She looked to Gwen who was still silent, clearly trying to fall asleep. The only noise besides Gwen’s breathing and the city traffic she could hear was the recorded voices on the television. Cindy frowned. Turning on the television wasn’t helping, if anything it was making it worse and bringing her back to the bunker, the last place she ever wanted to be again.

“Do you know any good shows that are on this late?” Cindy asked suddenly, unsure why she kept on talking to Gwen while she was trying to sleep.

“No.” Gwen replied stiffly.

“Do you have...I think it’s called Netflix? Where you can watch like tapes but you just click on the title from a menu.” Cindy asked.

“My gaming console is busted and that plays the Netflix.” Gwen said without moving or opening her eyes.

“Okay, do you have any ta-” Cindy began before Gwen sat up and shot her a glare.

“Cindy. Usually sleeping kind of involves being quiet. I don’t mind if you want the TV on, I sleep with it on sometimes. But like...mind asking me about my favorite TV shows and movies after I at least get a few hours of sleep?” Gwen asked the other.

“Right. Yeah. I’ll shut up, sorry.” Cindy said as she brought her gaze back to the television as Gwen laid back down. Cindy wasn’t really watching the television, she was more so listening to it and trying to find solace in the noise that it provided to move her away from the silence that she had grown to loathe. She shut her eyes and tried to focus on the sounds of some news program - was that Jameson talking? Maybe, who knew. But still...the feeling of restlessness returned to her and the anxiety over the silence came back. She reached over to try and grab the remote but ended up finding something else. Drumsticks. She knew Gwen played the drums, and wasn’t surprised to find random drumsticks in her room. She recalled the noise Gwen made earlier in the kitchen with her pen, where she matched the beat of the punk song she had been listening to. Cindy took one of the sticks and tapped it along the nightstand, mimicking the noise that Gwen was making earlier. She found comfort in making the same noise that Gwen did, the same comfort she found herself having in being around Gwen - the noise, the constant noise. She had only just met the other, but she was really finding a comfort that she would have loved to have ten years ago. The noise of a real person.

Cindy was so focused on her drumming attempt, she didn’t even notice when Gwen’s hand reached forward and grabbed the sticks and threw them across the room. “Cindy are you like...trying to be a super asshole or something? If you wanna be loud and make noise then go in the living room.”

“No, I do wanna sleep.” Cindy explained with a frustrated sigh.

“Really, you coulda fooled me?”

“No, it’s just...I /want/ to sleep. But it’s hard for me to when it’s too quiet. It makes me…” Cindy began but her voice trailed off. Cindy saw Gwen shift to sit up from the corner of her eye, a look of concern on her face.

“Makes you...what?” Gwen asked the other curiously. Cindy frowned and bit her lip.

“Think about when I was...y’know the bunker. It was always silent there, just me and artificial noises. I know it’s stupid and I’m a superhero, I’m a really good one too! I shouldn’t be fixating on something like that still.” Cindy paused. “So when you make noise...I don’t know, it kind of just reminds me that I’m not there anymore. That there’s a life that’s going on, that I get to now be apart of.” Cindy shook her head. “That’s stupid, isn’t it?”

“Maybe a little.” Gwen admitted bluntly. 

“Wow, thanks.” Cindy said with an eyeroll.

“But...it doesn’t mean it’s wrong to feel that way.” Gwen reached over and gave the other a hug. As she did so, Cindy’s heightened sensitivity to sound enabled her to hear Gwen’s breathing crystal clear. The comfort returned. “I can’t relate. Sure, we have the same powers...but I didn’t go into a bunker for ten years because of them. That doesn’t mean that it didn’t suck for you though, Cindy. And I’m sorry it’s made you become this way...I’m lucky that it happened to me the way it did, the bite. I don’t want to ever become what you did, Cindy. I can’t even imagine it…” Gwen tightened her hold on Cindy, Cindy did the same, resting her chin against the other’s shoulder.

“But.” Gwen began. “If for some reason you like to hear me obnoxious, I can definitely help out with that. I’m super obnoxious.”

“Believe me, I know.” Cindy smirked.

“But, I kind of want to sleep also. And unless I sleep talk and aren’t aware of it. I don’t really know how to make that noise that you need.” Gwen mumbled.

“Well, it’s not exactly a lot of noise I need or anything. Sometimes just hearing something like breathing helps, especially when we’re this close.” Cindy paused. “Sorry, that...probably sounded really gay, didn’t it?”

“Yeah, it did. But...this whole sharing a bed thing is already there, so I guess cuddling is sort of expected at this point.” Gwen said as she settled back down and pulled Cindy to lie with her. She wrapped her arms around Cindy. Cindy let her chin lie on Gwen’s shoulder so her ears were right by her lips...she heard the soft breathing of Gwen, a reminder that she was not alone and that she was free. “Remember, no telling your Peter Parker or any other gross boys about this when you go back.”

“I promise.” Cindy said with a chuckle. “Thank you...Gwen. I know it’s strange, but…”

“Hey. Spider-Women gotta stick together.” Gwen reached over to press a kiss to Cindy’s forehead. “Now, sleep.”  
Cindy smiled and resumed her position resting along the crook of Gwen’s neck. Holding another person, hearing the small stirs of Gwen as she shifted and her breathing steady and relaxed...it made her able to do the same. She was free and never going back, and now she had the reminder of that freedom that she needed. After all, Spider-Women had to stick together.


End file.
